A lot can change in two months. Just eight weeks ago, Maine was in a tie for eighth place in Hockey East, sporting a disappointing 3-5-1 league mark and a 3-6-2 record overall. Fast forward to today, and the Black Bears are back in the hunt for home ice in the league playoffs. Thanks in large part to a 9-1-2 record since Thanksgiving, Maine has clawed its way to fourth in the league standings, just one point behind second-place Merrimack and Boston College.

Brian Flynn, with 35, is one point shy of his point total from all of last season.

Maine’s run has been fueled by consistency on both ends of the ice. Over the 12-game stretch, Maine has won every game in which it has scored three goals or more; the three times that the Black Bears failed to reach that mark have resulted in the two losses and a tie. Coinciding with the offensive consistency has been solid play at the other end of the ice, as sophomore Dan Sullivan has established himself as the team’s number one goaltender, getting the starting nod in each of the 12 games during the streak.

The Black Bears also avoided the pitfall that many teams suffer from — the holiday hangover. Maine claimed its fifth Florida College Classic between Christmas and New Year’s, and carried the momentum from that tournament into wins against Vermont and New Hampshire in the first week of January.

“It’s always nice to win tournaments to give you confidence,” said senior captain Brian Flynn. “We had two good games in Florida, then one against Vermont and then the game against UNH at Fenway — we took those four games as a block and said, we need to win three of those; well, we won all four, which has just helped build our confidence.

“In the past, we’ve struggled after the break, so we had a talk about that before we left, and you can see the guys worked hard, skating and lifting over the break, and we’re benefitting from that right now,” Flynn added.

Maine’s upward movement has been due primarily to its prolific offense, led by Hockey East’s top three individual scorers — Flynn, Spencer Abbott and Joey Diamond. The trio comprise the league’s most dangerous scoring line, accounting for 42 of the team’s 80 goals on the year, establishing Flynn and Abbott as two of Hockey East’s strongest candidates for the Hobey Baker Award. Maine also possesses the league’s top power-play unit, converting on 29.7 percent of its chances with the man advantage.

“There’s not that many lines around the country that have played every game together,” Flynn said. “We’ve had a couple of nights where one of the three of us is having a good night, and the others benefit from being on the same line. We’re extremely comfortable at this point, with no signs of slowing down.”

That level of comfort was on display last weekend as the Black Bears took both games from Boston College at home, winning a tight 4-3 contest in overtime before breaking open another close matchup with three goals — two of them of the empty-net variety — in the final three minutes of regulation.

“That was huge — we’ve struggled against BC since I’ve been here, and that’s the first series we won against them in four years,” Flynn said. “It’s a big boost, they’re always at the top of the league and the nation, and I think it’s a good measuring stick for where we are right now. Of course, last week was at home and in front of our crowd, so this week, being on the road will be more of a challenge.”

That challenge Flynn spoke of involves taking on league-leading Boston University in a two-game set in Boston this weekend. The two teams have already met once this season, a 5-1 Terrier victory on Dec. 10 in Orono. In that game, Boston University potted five unanswered goals, including a pair on the power play, to claim the win.

Maine also was without Flynn for the second half of that game after he was assessed a major and game misconduct midway through the second period. At the time of the penalty, Maine led, 1-0, and Flynn feels that staying out of the penalty box will be critical for the Black Bears to find success this weekend.

“We’ll have to be extremely responsible with the puck,” he said. “They’ve got guys who can put the puck in the net and burn us, so we have to chip pucks in deep and make them go 200 feet all night, and not give up any odd-man rushes. Staying out of the box will be a big help, but we’re sure they’re saying that as well, that our power play is clicking right now.”

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag

- Maine’s not alone in trending upward in Hockey East; the Black Bears’ opponent this weekend, Boston University, has won five straight and is 7-1 in its last eight games. The Terriers have opened up a four-point lead on second-place Merrimack and Boston College.

- The other series to watch this weekend is a home-and-home between the two Massachusetts state schools. Massachusetts has won three straight, and is 5-1-2 in its last eight games. The Minutemen have been a completely different team this season at home and on the road; Massachusetts is 7-0-3 at home and 0-7-2 on the road. They’ll take on UMass Lowell, first in Amherst before moving to Lowell on Saturday. Lowell is 4-2 in its last six games, but dropped a 1-0 decision to Providence on Tuesday.

- Boston College has been heading in the opposite direction. The Eagles are just 7-9-1 overall since November 1, canceling out their 7-1 start to the season. BC takes on New Hampshire in a home-and-home series this weekend, with the Wildcats clinging to eighth place in the league standings.

The latest edition of the INCH Podcast takes on a bit of a different format as our national writers weigh in on topics about the viability of contending teams in a puzzling year so far. We discuss what types of things will make a difference for some of the top teams in the country down the stretch. Sit back, enjoy, and we warn you that Deterioration includes talk about the perils of running a marathon.

INCH Podcast – Jan. 25, 2012

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (20.4MB)

Reilly Smith

REILLY SMITH
Miami
Jr. | F | Mimico, Ontario

His Statistics: Four goals in the RedHawks’ sweep of visiting Western Michigan, including all three goals (one of them short-handed) in Friday’s 3-1 win and the game-winner in Saturday’s 4-0 shutout.

His Impact: Since a disastrous October in which it won two of its eight games, Miami has climbed to within two points of first-place Ohio State in the CCHA standings by going 12-4-2 since Nov. 1. Smith has played a huge role in the RedHawks’ revival, scoring 14 goals and 20 points in those 18 games. His four goals this weekend give him 18 for the season—in all of college hockey, only Colgate’s Austin Smith (24) and Minnesota’s Nick Bjugstad (20) have more.

Smith and the RedHawks have a tough, but favorable, schedule from here on out with seven of their 10 remaining games at home, including a potentially huge home-and-home series with Ohio State to close the regular season. The only road series left on Miami’s slate is an equally important trip to Ann Arbor Feb. 3-4 to face Michigan.

His Runners Up: Shane Madolora, RIT; Mike Mangene, Maine; Bryce Merriam, Rensselaer; Justin Schultz, Wisconsin

While we chose Reilly Smith as the INCH National Player of the Week, it wasn’t an easy decision. The efforts of all the runner-up candidates made this the most difficult choice of the year, so we’ll take this time to salute them in greater detail. The goalies were at the top of their games, as RIT and RPI went to New England states and came home after four-point weekends. RIT’s Shane Madolora (62 saves) and RPI’s Bryce Merriam (81 saves) each had a shutout and allowed one goal in the other game. Matt Mangene of Maine led the Black Bears to a sweep of Boston College by scoring the overtime-winner in Friday’s victory and adding a hat trick in Saturday’s win. Wisconsin defenseman Justin Schultz had another big weekend to boost his Hobey candidacy with five points and a plus-seven rating in two wins against Alaska Anchorage.

Over the last several weeks, people have had the opportunity to login and vote for their favorite players or other deserving candidates in the first phase of the Vote For Hobey. With that, has come some campaigning and balloting updates (and even misinformed articles) from different factions in support of players. We’re all for the enthusiasm, but the bottom line is that it really doesn’t matter at all in determining the top-10 Hobey finalists, let alone the winner. At this stage of voting, 58 coaches receive ballots. Additionally, the fan vote accounts for one percent of the total results – roughly a little more than half of one coach’s vote.

What Happened: Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson was understandably peeved after the CCHA denied the Fighting Irish’s appeal of its suspension of forward Riley Sheahan, causing the standout junior to miss Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Michigan. The league iced Sheahan for what it termed an “illegal hit” in the second period of Notre Dame’s Jan. 13 loss to Western Michigan.

Thing is, had the officials working that game made the correct call, it’s unlikely Sheahan gets suspended. Referees Keith Sergott and Matthew Miller saw the hit, but wrongly assessed the major penalty and game misconduct to Notre Dame’s Jeff Costello—hence the CCHA’s revisionist justice nearly a week later.

“It was more about the process. It wasn’t so much about the call,” Jackson told the Notre Dame Observer. “I hope they take a hard look at the official that involved and give him the same kind of suspension.”

What We’re Watching: We’re watching college hockey on TV—lots of it. With the proliferation of national and regional sports outlets and DirecTV, it’s the golden age of televised college pucks. But we’ve got a simple request for game analysts: less is more. Just because you’re on television for two to three hours at a time, you don’t have to try to cram everything you know about the game into that time frame. Tell us what we need to know, and move on.

What the …?: Saw some brief reports Monday from the Canadian Press about an AHL suspension to former New Hampshire defenseman Garrett Stafford. He’ll sit out one game for the Hamilton Bulldogs due to his actions in Saturday’s outdoor game against the Toronto Marlies. Stafford’s transgression? He apparently threw a water bottle at the Marlies’ bench.

@BruceCiskie Bruce Ciskie

Not surprised to see UMD lose a couple first-place votes. There are voters who use the Pairwise now that it has enough data to be valid.

• If this is indeed the case, and we have no reason to believe it’s not true, then what value do those voters bring to the polling process? Many fans like to clamor that the PairWise is the only thing that matters for NCAA Tournament selection and the polls are meaningless. That’s true … on one day of the year. The PairWise is designed to measure teams based on the entire season’s body of work and there’s a lot of hockey left to be played. To view it as a ranking system is flat-out wrong. The benefit of voter-driven polls and compiling the INCH Power Rankings is that actual hockey coaches and media who closely follow the games can make their case based on what they’ve seen by watching teams all season long. Besides, do you really want to rely on a comparison system that currently deems CCHA ninth-place team Northern Michigan more worthy of an NCAA Tournament spot than WCHA leader Minnesota or ECAC Hockey leader Cornell?

It’s really hard to miss, even as the fastest of skaters streaks down the ice — a bright blue speck on an otherwise pristine scarlet and white sweater. It stands out, just as it’s supposed to, in order to catch your eye. “It” is a bright blue patch in the shape of a puzzle piece on the left shoulder of the Boston University men’s hockey team’s sweaters, illustrating that team’s involvement with Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest autism science and advocacy program and the charity of choice for the Terriers hockey program since 2004.

A small blue patch on BU's sweaters represents a cause that means a lot to the team.

College athletes in general typically do an outstanding job of giving back to their local communities, and hockey teams are no exception. Many teams hold food and toy drives around the holidays, players go to area schools to tutor and read to children, and teams hold events to raise funds and awareness for various causes. College hockey even provides an annual award to recognize one player for their community service efforts.

Just as college players giving back to the community is not unique to Boston University, neither are specialty uniforms, most of which wind up being auctioned off to raise money for a particular cause. Even just last season, the Colgate women’s hockey team wore a special uniform on Jan. 28 in their game against Rensselaer that featured the autism symbol puzzle pieces along the bottom and on the inside of the sleeves.

In nearly every case, though, a special charity jersey was only worn for a limited engagement. In discussions between the Boston University hockey program and Autism Speaks representatives before the season to explore options for the team to increase their involvement, the Colgate women’s hockey sweater for autism was brought up. Since autism is a disorder that affects boys far more than it affects girls, the question was posed as to how the men’s team could help to raise awareness, and that evolved into the placement of the puzzle piece on the shoulder of their home and road sweaters.

What makes the Terriers different is that they elected to wear the puzzle-piece patch for the remainder of the season, rather than a one-off sweater that would make limited appearances. Few teams have ever worn a sweater that raises awareness for a charity cause for a lengthy period of time, with a notable exception of the professional soccer club FC Barcelona that paid to bear the logo for UNICEF on their jerseys for a five-year period that ended last summer.

“This is just a cause we feel is something important, that we appreciate and take very seriously,” said senior captain Chris Connolly of the team’s work for those with the disorder. “We’re very happy to support them — they’re big fans of what we do on the ice. We take the patch seriously; any way we can support them, we’ll do it.”

The Terriers’ involvement with autism extends far beyond merely raising awareness. Players have taken to helping at the Greater Boston Walk Now for Autism Speaks, originally starting with attending the walk, but getting increasingly involved with volunteering at the event, working stations and helping to set up and break down the event. The players have also worked directly with those with autism, inviting children to join them in watching a women’s hockey game near the end of the season.

“I thought it was great that we were doing it,” added fellow senior Kevin Gilroy. “Nobody really knows much about or pays much attention to autism, and we thought it was a great idea. After the first game with the patch, people were asking us what the puzzle piece was for, and it brings them in, gets them curious about it, so they look it up and end up getting involved with it.”

The patch first appeared on the Terriers’ sweaters prior to the Dec. 2 win against cross-town rival Boston College. Since the patch appeared, Boston University has gone 6-2, compared to the 7-4-1 mark the Terriers sported before the placement of the patch. The Terriers also have a track record with uniform patches — Boston University last wore a season-long patch on their shoulder during the 2008-09 season, wearing a patch bearing the initials of Scott Cashman, a former player who passed away shortly before the season. The Terriers went on to win the national title that season.

“The guys know what the logo stands for, and it’s a good little emblem to have on your shoulder,” Connolly said. “It’s a good reminder that there are more important things in life than playing hockey, and that we’re fortunate to be able to put that jersey on.”

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG

• When UMass-Lowell hosts Northeastern Friday night at the Tsongas Center, the Huskies won’t be the only dogs in the building. Lowell is hosting a Pucks and Paws Night, with fans encouraged to bring their own dogs to the rink. Don’t have a pup? The Lowell Humane Society will also have pups available for adoption on site.

• New Hampshire’s Stevie Moses had a five-goal week last week in wins over Providence and Dartmouth to catapult him into the league goal-scoring lead with 16. Moses’ five goals were the only tallies for the Wildcats in the two games as New Hampshire snapped a five-game losing skid.

• You can’t fault Northeastern for wanting to turn back the clock to December. After finishing out 2011 with a 7-0-1 mark in their last eight games, the Huskies have started out 2012 with a pair of losses to slip back under the .500 mark for the year.

We’ve reached that time of the season where Princeton has a two-week gap in its schedule due to an exam break. It’s an expected and understood part of the schedule for the Tigers, but it has a direct impact on another program that’s forced to deal with the resulting schedule difficulties – Quinnipiac, Princeton’s travel partner.

Quinnipiac's Zack Currie has emerged into the type of player that could garner all-league honors on the blue line.

The Bobcats are dealing with a scheduling quirk this month, facing two consecutive weekends without a game on the schedule before returning to action against Harvard and Dartmouth on the first weekend in February. It’s not a new thing, Quinnipiac has dealt with this for several years as a member of ECAC Hockey, but has had success getting non-conference games to fill some of the void in late January. This year, an agreement with the US National Team Development Program fell through and the Bobcats had two weeks off.

With that comes some challenges, but also some opportunities to heal physically and set things up for the final eight games of the regular season.

“We definitely need to stay sharp and we want to be fresh and healthy for the stretch run,” Pecknold said. “We’ve been really banged up at the end of the year the last two or three seasons, and this gives us a chance to rest some players. For example, if we were playing this Friday we would probably be without two regulars in our lineup due to injury, but they will probably be ready to go when we play Harvard.”

The spring semester hasn’t started yet at Quinnipiac, so there was plenty of time for practice as well as team activities. There was an extra day off for the players, but they’ve also spent time this week volunteering at youth hockey practices in the area. This weekend, they’ll head outdoors for some ice time and also help young players as well as a learn-to-skate group on the outdoor rink.

Some shootout contests and fresh drills have been cycled into the normal practice routine, but there’s also some serious work being done. Quinnipiac is focusing on some areas that have generally been pretty good according to Pecknold’s assessment through the first 26 games of the season, but can be solidified for the end of the season.

“We’ve been pretty good defensively but we can be better in our zone and in the neutral zone. The penalty killing has been good but needs to be more consistent,” he said. “And we’re still not scoring as many goals as we could be. I’m happy with the chances we’re getting, but that is probably down to a lack of confidence.”

The top line of Connor Jones, Kellen Jones and Matthew Peca has carried the scoring load for Quinnipiac and junior defenseman Zack Currie has really emerged as a go-to player and top-pair defenseman for the Bobcats. Currie has seven goals and 14 points on the year, after totaling just 16 points in his first two seasons.

Quinnipiac gave itself some momentum into this time off with a convincing win over nationally-ranked Colgate Saturday afternoon at home. The Bobcats were one-goal losers to Cornell despite outshooting the Big Red 33-19 in the game on Friday, then trailed 1-0 to Colgate after the first period Saturday. Quinnipiac outscored the Raiders 7-0 over the final 40 minutes and got goals from seven different players.

“That was a huge win because you can’t get swept at home,” Pecknold said. “It was imperative. Forget about the break, forget about the fact that you need the two points, we just had to get the win. Colgate played very well in the first period, and then we really got it going.”

With a 13-8-5 record so far, and 5-5-4 mark in ECAC Hockey, Quinnipiac has positioned itself to chase a top-four spot in the league playoffs and with a very strong finish to the year and deep run in the ECAC Hockey tournament is still in contention for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. How the Bobcats manage this time off, and if they can maintain their health will go a long way toward determining the team’s fortunes down the stretch.

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG

• It’s an interesting little road trip for Harvard, as the Crimson have shown signs of making a move this season but have also let some games get away from them – most recently by squandering a two-goal third-period lead against Boston University. After a nice comeback tie at North Dakota in late December, Harvard is poised to line up against two of the top teams in ECAC Hockey with contests at Colgate and Cornell this weekend.

• Brown has just one loss in its last seven games (4-1-2), and that was a 3-2 overtime loss at home to Princeton. The streak started with a 6-4 win over Yale at home in early December, and in the other three wins and two ties the Bears didn’t allow more than two goals. That’s been enough for an offense that ranks 45th nationally in goals per game, and Brown has evened its record at 7-7-3 overall and 4-4-2 in the league.

• Princeton is another interesting case, as the Tigers have just one loss in their last six (2-1-3). In addition to the aforementioned overtime win over Brown, Princeton probably had its best overall weekend of the year with a 6-2 win over Colgate and a come-from-behind 3-3 tie with Cornell. Princeton scored three goals in the third period of that tie against the Big Red to rally from a three-goal deficit. The Tigers are outscoring their opponents 27-22 in the third period of games this year.

• Eight teams in the ECAC Hockey standings are within two games of the .500 mark in league play, which will set up a frenetic finish to the regular season that will see some drastic standings shifts if teams come away with four-point (or zero-point) weekends.

• If you didn’t catch this week’s INCH Hobey Tracker, check it out for prominent mentions of Colgate’s Austin Smith and Union’s Troy Grosenick.

There are times when the brotherhood of hockey shows itself, as men who wear different-colored sweaters come together to show that the game uniting them is stronger than the adversarial on-ice differences that divide them.

The past week in the WCHA was not one of those times.

Perhaps it’s the weight of a tight conference race combined with the mid-season doldrums when injuries pile up, but the league sounded like anything but a dozen teams united under one banner over the past seven days or so.

Don Lucia says it might be a while before the Gophers are back in Grand Forks.

It started, as so many of college hockey’s newsworthy events seem to, in Grand Forks on Saturday, as the final seconds ticked away on Minnesota’s decisive 6-2 win over North Dakota. As the final horn sounded, North Dakota defenseman Ben Blood fired a puck which touched off a brief scrum with a few players from both teams. In the subsequent handshake line, Blood took a swipe at Minnesota’s Kyle Rau, which touched off another tussle, as Blood and Seth Ambroz paired up.

High above the ice, Gophers radio announcer Wally Shaver took exception at Blood’s action and launched into an on-air rant, which concluded with the radio booth veteran calling North Dakota, “cheap hoseheads.”

North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol, to his credit, did the right thing to send a message internally and externally, stripping Blood of the player’s assistant captain status early in the week.

That same night, several hours drive south down I-29, Nebraska Omaha managed to do what no other team had accomplished since the second week of the season. The Mavericks got 43 saves from Ryan Massa, and beat top-ranked Minnesota Duluth 3-1, snapping the Bulldogs’ 17-game unbeaten string. But before the final horn sounded in that one, there were words, possibly gestures, and at least one dangerous hit exchanged between Omaha’s Dominic Zombo and Duluth’s J.T. Brown.

On Tuesday the WCHA announced a one-game suspension for Zombo, for a knee-to-knee check on Brown. This prompted Mavs coach Dean Blais to question why Brown wasn’t punished for some unpleasantness of his own. Blais told Rob White of the Omaha World-Herald that Brown had flashed an obscene gesture during the game, which should be worthy of a suspension as well.

“You suspended Zombo for a hit, OK. Now, what are you going to do with J.T. Brown?” Blais asked rhetorically. “To me, that’s worse than the hit.”

As of this writing, the WCHA has taken no action against Brown, and it is unknown if there will be a further league review of the alleged incident. In past years, Hakstol was suspended for two games for flashing a middle finger on TV during a game.

The tension between Minnesota and North Dakota reappeared later in the week when Hakstol fired back at Shaver on a radio show.

“We all work for somebody, I get it. I understand that,” Hakstol said. “But a man that I’ve known for a long time, almost 20 years, I thought really crossed the line. I haven’t spoken with him but I’m really upset about it and I think it was wrong.”

A day later, when asked about the high-tension rivalry between the Gophers and North Dakota, Minnesota coach Don Lucia suggested that a cooling off period might be in order starting in two years when the teams are no longer in the same conference.

“We will go back there as a non-conference team,” Lucia said at his weekly gathering with the media. “We have a great rivalry. Sometimes it gets a little over the top and I’m not sure that is healthy for anybody. So we will continue to play, but I doubt we will continue to play each and every year.”

He added that the Gophers’ schedule for the 2013-14 season, their first in the Big Ten, is set save for two home games that they have to fill, and it does not include a trip to North Dakota. That means it will be at least three years before Minnesota’s next visit to the Ralph.

The official breakup of the current WCHA is still more than a year away. But with some actions on the ice and some words off the ice this week, it looks like some cracks are already appearing.

Even to the untrained eye, it’s clear that the culture of Western Michigan hockey is dramatically different than it was two seasons ago. The rise of Bronco hockey from the bottom tier of the CCHA has been well documented by almost any outlet covering the conference and that program in particular.

That talk should only get louder in the coming weeks after Western completed a home-and-home sweep of Notre Dame last weekend, cementing the team as a legitimate contender for its first conference title. With the six-point weekend, the Broncos sit just one point behind Ohio State with two games in hand.

Chase Balisy

The key to this unprecedented opportunity for the Broncos is that through the transition of practice and training habits and on-ice strategy under Andy Murray this season and Jeff Blashill last year, one thing hasn’t been lost – the passion Western Michigan teams always had for the game, even when they were limited to spoiling a weekend for the conference’s big guns rather than actually contending.

But, in past seasons, that passion often came  with costly penalties and mistakes, a downside the Broncos revisited two weekends ago when they were swept at home by No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth – a downfall that many took to be a sign that Western wasn’t ready to compete nationally.

Against the Bulldogs, the Broncos found themselves tied heading to the final frame of both games – 1-1 on Friday, 2-2 on Saturday.  But two third-period penalties Friday and one Saturday resulted in an early power play goal both nights that sparked three-goal rallies and gave the games a blow-out feel if one simply looked at the box score.

Sophomore forward Chase Balisy looked back on those games this past Tuesday and echoed sentiments we’ve heard from Western Michigan so many times in the past.

“Against (Minnesota-Duluth) I thought we played well, but the third periods didn’t go our way,” Balisy said. “They’re the No. 1 team in the country and we just took too many penalties. We’re an emotional group of guys and we play with a lot of heart, but we can’t take that many penalties.”

The difference is that this time, the lesson was learned and the Broncos turned things around, playing spotless third periods against Notre Dame (2 goals scored on Friday, 1 Saturday) and rebuilding any lost faith in the club from supporters and media after the prior weekend’s disappointments.

“I think that this past weekend we did a better job of controlling that, even though the Notre Dame series was very physical,” Balisy said. “A lot of guys are banged up this week.”

Balisy credits another year of experience for what was an extremely young team last year for helping them keep their composure and stay in the title race.

“I’d say we definitely have more experience,” Balisy said. “We only lost a few seniors from last year and most of our forwards lines are intact, so we pretty much have the same team that made it to the CCHA finals last year.”

And while those seniors lost might have been few in number, Balisy notes that they played a huge role in his personal development as a college hockey player, as well as in the growth of the team as a whole.

“Last year I had no idea what to expect,” Balisy said. “I was just 18 years old, and the seniors really took me under their wing.”

That maturity and experience that Balisy and his teammates bounced back with against Notre Dame will continue to be important in the coming weeks, as they might complete the transition from underdog to the team with a target on its back if they take over the league’s top spot.

That quest starts with the team that ended the Broncos’ Cinderella story at Joe Louis Arena last year – the Miami RedHawks.

Miami hasn’t been a player in the title race thus far, but they’ve been hot as of late. Balisy gives them credit for a being a tough, physical team to play against and has seen the team trending upwards over the past month after a slow start.

It won’t be easy to win on the road at Steve Cady Arena, but with the chip on its shoulder after the championship game loss last March, the Broncos will throw everything possible at the RedHawks, hoping to come out of the weekend on top of the conference standings.

Should that happen, everyone will be talking about the Broncos, but Balisy and his teammates are ready to handle the pressure of being the favorites.

“At the beginning of the year, our goal was to win the CCHA Title, the playoff title and the National Championship,” Balisy said. “Every year those goals are the same, but now, with 12 games left, people will start to talk about it more.”

There’s a logjam atop the Atlantic Hockey standings with six weeks to go but one team that is making a decided run to the top is Connecticut.

Garrett Bartus

The Huskies have opened the new year on a roll, sweeping Niagara at home and Canisius on the road. The eight-point surge has pushed the Huskies into a third-place tie with Air Force and Robert Morris with UConn holding a tie-breaker edge with one more victory.

Connecticut leapfrogged three teams with the 6-2, 4-3 sweep of Canisius in Buffalo – it was the first time Canisius has lost a home set since Holy Cross did the trick in Oct. 2009. Junior Garrett Bartus posted both wins, stopping 54 shots, to even his record at 10-10-2. Returning all-star Cole Schneider had three goals and an assist – two of his tallies came in the final 10 minutes on Sunday as the Huskies rallied from a deficit. Schneider has a point in 13 of his last 14 contests and leads the team with 26 points, one point off the league lead.

Three members of Schneider’s sophomore class have also vaulted to the team lead in points. Brant Harris leads the team with 13 goals and has 21 assists. Billy Lattta has 19 points and Jordan Sims has 18.

Connecticut’s offensive output is slightly down from last year but the defense is allowing one fewer goal per game (2.59). Another notable improvement is the power play – the Huskies lead Atlantic Hockey with a 28.3 percent conversion rate, nine full points ahead of last season.

When the league returns to Eastern and Western pod schedules next week, Connecticut faces a favorable schedule. The Huskies are already 6-2 at Freitas Ice Forum in Storrs, and the remaining league slate has seven home contests out of 11.

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG

If the playoffs were to start today – Mercyhurst, RIT, Connecticut and Air Force would own the first-round byes. The best-of-three series would pit No. 12 Sacred Heart at No. 5 Robert Morris; No. 11 Army at No. 6 Bentley; No. 10 American International at No. 7 Holy Cross; and, No. 9 Canisius at No. 8 Niagara. Of course, only five points separates first place from eighth place and there’s still six-plus weeks to go.

Tigers maul Pioneers – Rochester Institute of Technology pulled off a couple rarities in college hockey, posting consecutive shutouts and scoring double digits. Playing like pros in Bridgeport’s AHL arena, the Tigers romped over Sacred Heart 10-0 on Saturday and 3-0 on Sunday. The 10 goals set a Div. I school record. The last double-digit output was a 12-2 win over Lebanon Valley on Feb. 18, 2005. Single-game marks of 17 assists and 27 points (by 14 different players) were set, and five third-period goals tied a mark. The last time RIT posted consecutive road shutouts was Feb. 4 and 6, 1981.

Tiger honors – With such a huge weekend in Bridgeport, it’s no wonder RIT secured three of the top weekly awards. Michael Colavecchia scored four goals and had an assist, securing player of the week honors. His Saturday hat trick was only the sixth in RIT’s brief Division I history. He leads the team with 20 points, split evenly. Shane Madolora posted consecutive shutouts for the second time in his career, stopping all 41 shots, to earn goalie of the week honors. He has a 2.00 goals against overall and 1.54 in league play. Madolora’s five shutouts ranks second in the nation, and he has 11 for his career. Forward Brad McGowan earned rookie of the week honors, posting a goal and two assists. His 10 points, split evenly between goals and assists, leads all RIT first-year players.

Lost weekend – It’s not often Air Force comes out on the short end of a weekend home series. Air Force forged a 2-2 draw with Bentley on Friday and lost 2-1 on Saturday, falling to 0-3-2 in its last five games. Bentley sophomore Branden Komm made 40 saves in the tie, the fourth time he has stopped at least 40 shots, and he made 19 saves in Bentley’s first win at Air Force since 2006. Komm has allowed two-or-fewer goals in 12 of 18 starts, including four in a row and in his last 10 league contests.

Niagara swamps Army – Niagara swept a home series with Army, prevailing 5-1 on Friday and 3-0 on Saturday. Army has lost four in a row and is 1-9-4 in its last 14. Chris Noonan stopped 67 of 68 shots to post the wins, and the shutout was the second of his career. Noonan dipped his goals against under two to 1.99 (tied for sixth nationally) and improved his save percentage to .934 (tied for third in the nation). Marc Zanette had two goals and an assist.

Slowed but not undaunted – Just because you sit in first place doesn’t guarantee a road win. Mercyhurst bowed at American International 3-2 on Friday but responded with a 7-2 win on Saturday. Mercyhurst junior Paul Chiasson had three goals on eight shots. Forward Nardo Nagtzaam had a goal and two assists in the second contest, earning rookie of the week honors. He has nine goals and 12 assists in 22 contests. Laker sophomore Jordan Tibbett made his first start in 15 months and posted his first career win with a 27-save performance. AIC’s Blake Peake had a goal and four assists.

A narrow split – Robert Morris pulled out a 4-3 overtime win over Holy Cross on Friday, but the Crusaders evened the score with a 1-0 victory on Saturday. Derek Kump made 29 saves for his first collegiate shutout. Erik Vos had three of Holy Cross’ goals, raising his total to a career-high 10. Robert Morris goalie Brooks Ostergard actually raised his save percentage to .934, ranking second in the nation. Colonial freshman Cody Wydo score twice – his 11 goals is tied for third among the nation’s rookies.

Power outage – Army has scored three goals in just five contests this season, going 1-1-3. When scoring two goals, Army is 1-2-2. The Black Knights have scored one goal or been shut out in 10 of 21 games (0-9-1).

Powerless Pioneers – Sacred Heart did itself no favors in its 10-0 and 3-0 losses to RIT. The Pioneers failed on all 14 power play opportunities.

Academies on display – Friday’s Air Force-Army game at West Point will be televised by CBS Sports Network at 7:30 p.m. Both weekend games at Tate Rink have been sold out.

Coming up – It’s the final weekend of East vs. West pod play, with the final five weeks reserved for geographic rivals. Heading East are Mercyhurst (at Holy Cross), RIT (at Bentley), Robert Morris (at Connecticut) and Air Force (at Army). West-bound clubs are AIC (at Niagara) and Sacred Heart (at Canisius; both games are afternoon tilts). Mercyhurst won the last four against Holy Cross but they all came in Erie; the Lakers are 15-4 in Worcester.

Remember earlier this month when we when we proclaimed the season’s best weekend of hockey? Well, this would not be that weekend. It doesn’t help that we’re in the doldrums of the regular season when the newness has worn off and the playoffs are way out on the horizon. Every weekend can’t be a hockey-pocalypse but, hey, there’s still some quality out there if you poke around, mostly focused familiar names renewing acquaintances.

Colorado College forward Jaden Schwartz leads the Tigers with 18 goals in 21 games.

Colorado College at Minnesota (Fri.-Sat.): The best thing to come out of the Gophers’ win at North Dakota Saturday—other than the epic postgame rant from Minnesota radio play-by-play man Wally Shaver—was the six goals they scored and who scored. Sure, Nick Bjugstad had two, but so too did Nate Condon (one shorthanded), and Minnesota also got single tallies from Nate Schmidt (his first since Oct. 23) and Seth Ambroz. That kind of scoring depth bodes well for the Gophs moving forward. Speaking of scoring depth, Colorado College is third nationally in scoring offense (3.68 goals per game) and has seven players with six or more goals. However, the Tigers are 39th in scoring defense (2.95 goals per game). This series could come down to the goaltenders which would seem to favor Minnesota’s Kent Patterson, but Josh Thorimbert has been great for CC over the last month—in seven starts since Dec. 10, he’s 5-2-0 with a 1.72 GAA and a .935 save percentage.

Michigan at Notre Dame (Fri.-Sat.): The Wolverines and Fighting Irish are separated by two points in the CCHA standings, which you can pretty much say about any two teams in the league. Michigan enters the weekend 7-0-2 in its last nine games—five of the seven wins have been by one goal (4-2 wins against Boston College and Lake Superior State included insurance markers in the final 15 seconds of regulation.) Notre Dame has had offensive issues lately; they’ve lost six of their last nine and have scored two or fewer goals in those defeats. We’re looking in your general direction, Anders Lee, scorer of just two goals in his last 13 games.

Boston College at Maine (Fri.-Sat.): The Black Bears have quietly worked their way back into the top four in the Hockey East standings with a 7-2-2 mark in their last 11 games. The Eagles, meanwhile, are tied with Boston University for the top spot in the league in spite of a 6-7-1 showing after an 8-1-0 start. Both BC and Maine are dominated by goal-scoring trios—Chris Kreider, Bill Arnold, and Barry Almeida for the Eagles and Joey Diamond, Spencer Abbott, and Brian Flynn for the Black Bears—who’ll get theirs. Second- and third-line contributions will play a huge role in determining the outcome here.

Western Michigan at Miami (Fri.-Sat.): If you made the argument that outside of Minnesota Duluth, college hockey’s best team since Nov. 1 has been Miami, we’d yield the floor for you to make your case. The RedHawks started the season 2-6-0, but are 10-4-2 since. Part of that improvement is due to the Miami freshmen finding a comfort level. For example, rookie forward Jimmy Mullin has four goals and seven points in his last seven games and classmate Austin Czarnik has 13 points in 13 games since Veterans Day. The RedHawks haven’t cornered the market on impact freshmen, however. In 10 starts since becoming the team’s no. 1 goaltender in mid-November, Western Michigan goaltender Frank (The Big) Slubowski has posted a 1.98 GAA and a .915 save percentage.

Also: Ohio State still leads the CCHA but is 2-3-2 in its last seven games. The Buckeyes host Ferris State, which is unbeaten in its last four games. … Hockey fans and ichthyologists will pack Lynah Rink Saturday as Cornell hosts Harvard. At 4-6-6 overall and 3-4-4 in ECAC Hockey, the Crimson are the very definition of average—they’ve won back-to-back games once and lost back-to-back games once, but managed to string together consecutive ties twice. … Back on Nov. 12, Yale shut out Union behind 45 saves from goaltender Jeff Malcolm. The Dutchmen have gone 7-2-3 since, while the Bulldogs are 4-6-1 since that date. … Bad scheduling, part I: Minnesota Duluth (insert superlative here) plays its first home game since Nov. 19 when it hosts Alabama-Huntsville this weekend. … Bad scheduling, part II: Mercyhurst, which travels to Holy Cross this weekend, plays 11 of its last 14 games on the road.

The Hobey Baker Memorial Award is presented to a deserving recipient on the day before the last college hockey game of the season. But that doesn’t mean that college hockey fans, players, and media members don’t think about it all season. Inside College Hockey’s Hobey Tracker looks at our picks for the top three candidates and other players worthy of discussion.

Justin Schultz
Wisconsin | Sr. | D
To Date: 22 GP, 11-21—32, 5 PPG

The Skinny: One could draw a parallel between Schultz, who has 32 points in 22 games, and an offensive defenseman who won the Hobey in 2006, Denver’s Matt Carle. Carle put up ridiculous numbers (11-42—53) from the blue line in ‘06 for an above-average Pioneers team that didn’t qualify for the NCAA Tournament. It’s unlikely the Badgers will make the NCAAs, but Schultz is on pace to score 53 points (he already has 11 goals) for a team that doesn’t get much in terms of offense outside of him and Mark Zengerle.

Jack Connolly
Minnesota Duluth | Sr. | F
To Date: 22 GP, 13-23—36, 5 PPG, 2 GWG

The Skinny: Connolly’s got a bunch of things working in his favor. He’s the nation’s leading scorer in the midst of a 20-game point streak, captains the nation’s best team, and his team has a pretty manageable schedule the rest of the way— the only games against teams with records better than .500 are home dates with North Dakota (Feb. 10-11) and Colorado College (Feb. 24-25). Our hangup? Even without Connolly, the Bulldogs are still an NCAA-caliber club. Not sure you could say that about Colgate sans Austin Smith.

Austin Smith
Colgate | Sr. | Forward
To Date: 22 GP, 22-13—35, 4 PPG, 5 SHG, 5 GWG

The Skinny: Smith was the nation’s leading scorer for most of the year, but like his Colgate team’s record in recent weeks, his Hobey fortunes have started to slide a bit. With 35 points and five short-handed goals to match five game-winning goals. The senior is making the most of his last year on campus and is just six points shy of matching his career-best 41-point sophomore season. He’s a Dallas Stars property and is raising his personal value for sure, but there are other team goals that still lie ahead for a relatively surprising Colgate team.

A deeper look at a Hobey hopeful and an issue (or issues) surrounding his candidacy.

Troy Grosenick, Union: In a year that has seen several goaltending candidates make relatively short-term runs for Hobey consideration, the best long-term case at this point in the season belongs to Union’s Troy Grosenick. He leads the nation in both goals-against average (1.60) and save percentage (.939), and has three shutouts to his credit. His 11-3-3 record in 18 starts might be even better — in his three losses, Union has scored a total of two goals. The Dutchmen are also winless (0-2-3) in the games he doesn’t start.

Alex Guptill, Michigan: It’s not all that realistic to consider a rookie forward for the Hobey this year, but Michigan’s recent success has coincided in an uptick in production from Guptill. The Wolverines are unbeaten in their last nine games and during that span, the Newmarket, Ontario, product has five goals and eight assists—all at even strength. Through 26 games, Guptill has 12-12—24, second among NCAA freshmen in scoring behind Minnesota’s Kyle Rau. Michigan’s success this season hinged on replacing the offense generated by Carl Hagelin and Louie Caporusso; thus far, Guptill’s done his part.